Detailed Exterior Features

So here we have the front of the THOR V2 case. As you can see, you get to the bay covers by sliding off a corner of the THOR'S upper bezel. That's a pretty slick design. Kinda like a Transformer, but not.

Here’s how it works. Just slide the corner off like the arrows show, and after you line up the slide grooves, pop it back on. You can also see the bezel tabs that lock the covers in place.

The bay covers use a slide in notch and tab design. One side has plastic tabs that the bay cover’s metal tab clicks into, as noted in the above image. The other side has notches that the metal bay cover tabs slide into, shown with the arrows (below image). You can see the bay cover metal tab partially inserted into the receiver notch. I didn’t like this design at first, but after playing with it, it’s fine and should last as long as any design would. The only downside to this design is that the bay covers aren't as easy to get off and on as the slide and snap design.

If you paid attention to the exploded diagram above, you’d have seen that the top also comes off. Yep. In fact, that’s how you change out the top fan. This also means you have access to the front panel's pcb board. Here’s an image of the top after I scalped it. The front is where the top I/O panel wiring goes. The back is the top fan vent. (Nice haircut, THOR.)

It's time, so please sit down. You may get weak in the knees. Here's why I called the THOR V2 a sort of "transformer" like case at the beginning of the review. See the arrow? That's where it all starts, baby. But before I show you what happens, please note a nice little top recessed tray for pen drives and other small goodies, lined with a rubber mat. That's nice. Okay, okay, on with the show.

Slide the little button backwards, and you get ROCKET POWER! I like how it looks. It gives the case a very unique, aggressive look. The hair on the back of its neck is standing up as it transforms from a smooth, slightly muscular design into a mean looking attack case. As Duke would say, “Come get sum!"

Since this is obviously a design high point for the Rosewill THOR V2, I thought I’d give you a view from the back, also. I really like the design. It’s eye catching.

This struck me as a gimmick at first. That is, the aesthetic appeal of the design isn’t a gimmick, but, rather, the slider to open and close the exhaust vents. Other than the dinosaur louvers, there aren’t any other exhaust holes for the top fan. So the question is, “Why would you ever close it?” That would defeat the purpose of the top fan, or at least greatly diminish it’s purpose. Well, a good reason to close the vents is to move or work on the case so the fins don’t get broken. They aren’t thin plastic, though, but they do protrude, as you can see, so being able to close them is a bonus. Other than that, though, you’d be leaving them open all of the time.

Next, we have the top panel, and a nice assortment of connectors: two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0, plus an eSATA port and your normal audio ports. The eSATA port connects to a hard drive port on the motherboard. Rosewill has also included a built in fan controller. The two knobs operate either A or B fans. Each fan control knob can attach three fans, and the fan power plugs into a power supply lead. One negative here: The fan knobs are pretty darn sloppy. I don’t know if that’s going to spell doom or not, but it’s worth mentioning. Other than that, they work well and turn smoothly. The excess play just makes them feel cheapo, though.

The THOR V2 comes with a switchable LED front fan. That’s great, but the design, in my opinion, is flawed. The button is on the bottom of the case. I think it should have been near the top, for easier access. Second, the mounting system is backwards. The pins that hold the switch into the front bezel are attached as female connectors to the front bezel itself. That means you’ll need a tool to unplug the fan LED switch when you take the front bezel off. Adding to that frustration is that the front bezel fan filter is built into the bezel itself. So you’re stuck cleaning the filter with the wires attached to the front bezel, unless you disconnect the switch, and then that requires tools to do so.The red box shows the clip and the white box shows how the clip holding the switch is built onto the front bezel. Break one of those tabs, and you’re out of luck. A better design would have disconnecting the switch using your thumb and forefinger with pressure clips on the switch side. You could fix this yourself by simply cutting the wires and tossing the entire fan. Just joking. Really, though, you could cut the wires and splice in a couple quick disconnectors, problem solved.

The side panels on the THOR V2 are of the traditional slide in the front close the back, and thumb screw to secure flavor. I had a little trouble getting the screws to match up and that was annoying, but it could have just been me too. That’s about it for the exterior. Next, we’ll look at the internals and how well they do their job. So far the THOR V2 is mostly positive in that the design is neat, simple and useable. Let’s see how the internals measure up.

Comments

"So let me drop a bomb on you. This isn't Rosewill's design. Most companies selling cases don't make cases. They contract the work, and they cannibalize each other's designs."

I presume Xigmatek does this as well then as the first thing that hit me was how it similar it looked (internally and externally) to the Utgard. Hell, even the name follows the same theme.Clearly improved in some ways yet possibly worse in others, not really sure if it justifies the considerably higher price though.

I's still looking for 200/230mm fans. There isn't a lot of analytical information out there. I found an NZXT that has really good rating from buyers, and it has rifle bearings, but other than that, they all seem to be sleeved, which is horrible for horizontal mounts. Not only that, but I can't find any rifle bearing 230/20s with Red LEDs.

This looks a lot like the cooler master HAF series cases. Mainly the HAF series full towers. Come on rosewill... you can do better than that. It may have got a high review just because it is practically the same as HAF, but much cheaper. I agree with Adam though. That is why I stick with the big dogs when it comes to cases. #1 cooler master, silverstone, corsair, and lian li. Other bigger companies such as antec and thermaltake I am not impressed by. Cheaply made and their designs are not well thought out. Just take a look at the lan boy air... what the hell were they thinking? lol it looks cool, but....

Jeremy,Thanks for your comments. It got the high review becasue I thought it was a well built and well thought out case. No doubt, the leaders are as you listed, and I tend to gravitate to them also--my last case was the CM Stacker 830 series. It looks to me like the THOR 2 design might have the advantage in the cable routing department, though, with more holes to run cables through. Overall, I was just impressed with its simple and very effective design.

@ Mefist0 No, they are both different companies who use the same top and front snap on bezels. There are slight differences to each built. You can get either one in Amerika.

@ KSSyu It's not a complete re-brand, although most companies re-brand at least some of the time. I think my Lite-on DVD writer is a Sony model. Rosewill is a subsidiary or New Egg, but I have no idea how much "control" Newegg has over Rosewill, if any. "Subsidiary" in business simply means some sort of interaction, ranging from full control, which requires, legally, 50% of shares in the company plus one to some sort of business agreement that does not control the sub. It is interesting though, since Newegg is a large and very successful company, it leads me to think that they would not want their name tarnished by offering products from "their" subsidiary that are inferior. Which leads me to believe, maybe, that Rosewill will continue to increase it's offerings, quality, and innovation in order to stay on the coat tails of Newegg. Maybe not?

Nice review, well detailed and spec'd, but something about the 230mm fans remind me heavily of the type that Thermaltake uses.

Having said that, might I mention that the Thermaltake 230mm fans are a complete joke. Very shoddy design, really low quality plastic, and easily burn out or shift speeds even though they're getting plenty of power and aren't on a fan control or controlled by a board.

Are those 230mm fans 230x20 or 25? If they're 230x20 I'm willing to bet they just as bad as the Tt fans.........

i like the thor . i am usually attracted to clean simple exteriors like the corsair obsidian 650d . but the thor has a little more design flair and some originality without going overboard . plus its huge and has lots of big fans for the price . so i will definitely buy a thor for my next build later this year when 2011 socket mobos come out and the next generation of atom thin intels hit the market . i figure the thor will be selling for about $99.99 at some online discount store by december or january . all the other full twer cases by the top four brands start at 300 bucks for the same amount of space and no better fans included . rosewill will sell a ton of thors when the price drops in my humble opinion .

I i just bought the case before reading this review and am very happy i bought it mainly because the case comes preinstalled with my legal name on it. thank you for this review, you sir have made my day!

Good review of a good case.... yeah, Rosewill is kind of like the Newegg "house brand" similar to how Rocketfish and Dynex are each kind of a BestBuy "house brand". It doesn't necessarily mean anything, but I wouldn't personally spend any money on any Rosewill, Dynex, or Rocketfish electronic products like power supplies, LCD/HDTV, etc. But something "inert" like a PC case is fine IMO, and I have used many Dynex blank CDs and DVDs (but I wouldn't drop $300 on a Dynex HDTV), but this is way off topic..... It was surprising to see how alike the THOR is to the Aerocool case mentioned above. The left side panel is different, but otherwise the cases are more-or-less the same.

...and... Doug- why would we be hatin' on the GTX295? That's a bad-ass card!! I ran a pair of 260s in SLI for a loooong time 'cuz they were so awesome! I'd still be running that SLI setup if the GTX2xx series had DX11 support.... so, no worries here... keep rockin' that 295- it's a beast!

That's pretty much how I see Rosewill too. On the other hand, if they did a power supply and Johnny Guru reviewed it and gave it good marks, and had things other PS's didn't have, I wouldn't hesitate to buy one--since there are only several good PS manufactures anyway.

Hatin' on my 295 because it isn't DX11 is exactly what I meant.--lol This card is one of the best ever made and it'll go down in Video Card History with the likes of the venerable 8800 Ultra and the 9800GTX2. The last time I checked comparisons, of which there weren't many, the 295 was still not beaten by any of the new cards when tested under DX10. It surely is a "beast."

I figured it would end up around 130.00. For that price, it's not just a good but excellent case. I'm really enjoying mine. I don't think I could ever go back to the 120/140mm designs, unless temps come down with smaller dyes so that you only need 2-3 of them. I'm never going to have 6-7 120mm fans in a case again, ever.

As of 5:30am this is still running at 99.00. Thank you for the thorough review as this and one other review factored into me buying in. The only thing I couldn't find was whether my H70 would have problems fitting but after seeing how enormous the space was inside I feel confident all will go well. I am coming from an Antec 900 which has served me excellently for many years but finally will see retirement due to new cable management needs (SSDs probably shouldn't be stacked haphazardly inside a case either, haha). Thanks again for the review, it was very helpful :)

This case has been knocked off at least three times that I know know of. Each vendor has it's on flavor. the Thor v2 got excellent reviews across the board. One site did a cooling test with it comparing it to around 10 diff towers, including the HAF 922, and it out performed them all in 99% of the tests. It's a really simple case that has great utility. I'm glad I replaced my Stacker with it. I can run it with only the side and top 230mm fans, turn off the back 140mm and turn off the front, and the temp stays relatively the same. This is why I'm a believer in the 230/230 side to top configuration now.

"The God of Cooling and Silence" AanadTech##anandtech.com/show/4648/rosewill-thor-v2-the-god-of-cooling-and-silence/5

Hey Doug I know this review has been published 6 months ago but to the Thor's credit, no case have yet to match it's layout, airflow and cable management.

How goes the search for those fans? I only found Rosewill's $12 220x30mm and Rexus' $25 250x30 mm fans on Newegg. Why no 230x30mm? Will the 220x30mm fit and do the same job? And will the 250x30mm even fit?

I know there are tons of forums and sites out there but no one really goes into cases as well as BMR.